30Sep 2013 by Ben Farhner No Comments

Apartment Gardening

Garden
We live in an apartment. We have 13 months left on our lease. Do you know what this means? No yard. We've been making do with a balcony garden, which has been a great learning experience, but it's quite limiting in terms of space. But God is good, and He blessed us with a wonderful landlady who is letting us use the yard below our second floor apartment for gardening. How often does that happen? I'm convinced that God is behind our desire for land, for debt-free living, for self-sustainability. And I'm convinced that He is blessing us in the meantime, while we build up a down payment and search for the perfect parcel of property, by teaching us how to live sustainably, by allowing us to learn from others' wisdom (and…
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12Sep 2013 by Ben Farhner No Comments

Healthy Eating: How Far to Go

Food
Often people want to eat healthy, but think it's not really feasible for them. Organic is too expensive, it takes too much time to prepare the food, etc. Others are willing to take some steps, but think it's too difficult to switch to a truly healthy diet, so they compromise. And still others take the bandwagon to the end of the road: all home-grown organic non-GMO foods. So where do you draw the line? How far do you go toward healthy eating? Well, there are certainly some practical boundaries to consider. But there are also practical solutions. Cost One of the biggest hinderances I hear from people about healthy eating is the cost—or rather, the perception of cost. Many people think it's expensive to eat healthy, but that's simply not true. My wife and I…
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12Sep 2013 by Ben Farhner No Comments

No Admittance Except On Party Business

Construction
In a hole in the ground there lived a hobbit. Not a nasty, dirty, wet hole, filled with the ends of worms and an oozy smell, nor yet a dry, bare, sandy hole with nothing in it to sit down on or to eat: it was a hobbit-hole, and that means comfort. Our plan is to live in a hobbit-hole, round door, brass knob, and all. And our plan is to build it ourselves, from the ground up—ground included! But that's silly, right? After all, it's a thing written about in fantasy books. Our plan is actually a bit more involved than just a hobbit-hole, and while we do plan on having a No Admittance Except On Party Business sign permanently stationed outside the door, there are several quite practical reasons for our…
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29Aug 2013 by Ben Farhner No Comments

The Sustainability Snowball

Sustainability
My dream—and now our goal—is to be self-sustaining. The thing is, sustainability is a slippery slope. First you're just trying to eat healthy and spend less money, but that quickly escalates to plans for an earth-sheltered home powered by solar panels. Before you know it, you're off the grid, milking a cow twice a day and composting everything. And in my wife's view, we're all wearing linens woven by hand, singing kumbaya around a campfire, much to her chagrin. But right now we live in an apartment. So we're starting out slow, doing what we can until we buy our plot of land, researching and learning now so we can jump right into things when the time comes. We've started baking our own bread, brewing our own beverages, gardening on…
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